College profile
University of Denver
CO · Private nonprofit · Large city · 19,214 applicants 2023
A parent's read
- The major moves the money more than the admit letter. Computer Science grads from here earn about $121,993 four years out; music grads about $48,461 — a 2.5× spread on the same diploma. Have the major conversation before you deposit, not after.
- The campus itself adds earnings power. Opportunity Insights tracks it: only about 3% of students arrive from the bottom income fifth, but those who do reach the top fifth by their 30s at a 47% rate — a strong sign the outcomes here are the campus, not just the intake.
- The 5× payoff headline requires aid. Without aid this runs ~$78,476/yr. There's no income cutoff for need-based aid — whether you qualify depends on the gap between a school's price and your family's finances, so at a price like this even six-figure incomes often show need. Families who receive aid average ~$36,131/yr — against that, ten years of median earnings run ~5× the cost. Run the college's own net-price calculator before anchoring on the multiple.
- Ask the submit question deliberately. This college is test-optional — but at many such colleges, applicants who submit strong scores are admitted at meaningfully higher rates. “Optional” is a strategy decision, not a pass.
Composed from this page's data — every claim is backed by a number in the sections below.
Parent/student verdict
AccessibleAccessible for most applicants.
Best for
- Solid academic profiles — the admitted-student bands above are within reach for strong students
- Students focused on Business, Management, & Marketing (the school's signature program)
- Research-oriented students (R1 — top tier of federal research funding)
The reality
- You'd be near the bottom of their admitted class if: SAT below 1240, or ACT below 29, or unweighted GPA below ~3.50 (test bands are the school's own; the GPA floor is our estimate, not a published figure)
- High cost — full price is ~$78,476/yr without aid, and aid-receiving families still average ~$36,131/yr — verify the major's earnings track record before committing
Verdict is composed from this college's structured data (admit rate, SAT bands, net price with aid and at full price, Carnegie classification, scholarship grids) using transparent rule thresholds — not a chat-bot's opinion.
What are your child's odds here?
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Weighted is the higher GPA, with honors/AP credit in it — pick whichever your school reports. PSAT scores work in the SAT box.
Institutional snapshot
What kind of college is this?
27% of enrolled first-years submitted an SAT score, 16% an ACT — these ranges describe students who submitted, not the whole class.
Source: federal IPEDS Admissions 2023 for scores + admit rate; federal College Scorecard (20260606 vintage) for earnings + outcomes. SAT/ACT bands are the 25th–75th percentile of enrolled submitters.
Outcomes & cost
What graduates actually earn, finish, and owe.
Federal College Scorecard data. Earnings are median annual income measured years after entering. Debt is for federal-aid borrowers only (cash-pay students aren't counted).
The real cost
What University of Denver actually costs
Which side your family lands on isn't set by any national income line — it's set by University of Denver's own aid decision: the gap between its price and your family's finances.
Your odds + estimated cost across your whole college list, side by side.
The payoffTen years of typical graduate pay minus four years of cost — how many dollars ahead a typical graduate runs by year ten. Check both the full-price and with-aid versions to see which applies to you; median pay reflects who a college admits and what they study as much as the college itself., both ways
+$398K ahead at full price +$567K with aidSource: College Scorecard (average net price among Title IV first-time, full-time undergraduates who received aid) and each college's published cost of attendance. We don't show the federal net-price-by-income brackets: their categories were fixed in 2008 and never adjusted, and none of the averages is your family's own number — the full story. Payoff = (10-yr median earnings × 10) − (4 years of cost), in dollars — how far ahead a typical graduate runs by year ten; medians travel with the students a college admits and the majors they choose as much as with the college itself. Full price is the published cost of attendance; earnings are 10 years after enrollment, all majors combined.
What students study here
Most popular majors at University of Denver
Top 5 fields of study by bachelor's degrees awarded (most recent IPEDS Completions). Use this to see what University of Denver actually graduates — not just what it markets.
What those majors earn here
Median earnings 4 years after entry, by major — University of Denver's own graduates, not national averages.
| Major (CIP) | 4-yr earnings |
|---|---|
| Computer Science. | $121,993 |
| Management Sciences and Quantitative Methods. | $104,087 |
| Finance and Financial Management Services. | $99,135 |
| Accounting and Related Services. | $96,903 |
| Mechanical Engineering. | $93,026 |
| Real Estate. | $87,026 |
| Economics. | $84,328 |
| International Business. | $80,511 |
| Hospitality Administration/Management. | $75,118 |
| Marketing. | $74,173 |
Sources: IPEDS Completions (C2023_a; bachelor's-level first majors, 2-digit CIP family — share is of the top 5 only) · College Scorecard program-level outcomes (PP-FOS). Full college-vs-major comparison: /college-outcomes →
Student body & economic mobility
Who attends here — and what the campus adds.
Opportunity Insights data. It measures two things at once: how many lower-income students a college enrols, and how many of them reach the top earnings quintile later. A high rate says the college does both — it does not establish that the campus caused the earnings, because the students it admits differ from the students it doesn't. Read it as a signal about access and destination, not as proof of value added.
Full leaderboards: /college-mobility →
AI program signal
AI + computing education at University of Denver
Full multi-lens comparison: /ai-colleges →
Alternatives to University of Denver
Matched not just by selectivity, but by strategic goal — what a family actually decides on.
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Get your child's odds at University of Denver →Score-odds calculator · Improve the score first · Find merit aid
Feeder high schools
Which high schools send graduates to University of Denver?
Enrolled — from the schools' matriculation lists
84 high schools publish a numbered matriculation list — where their graduates actually enrolled, counted, in the school's own School Profile — and name University of Denver on it. Between them they printed 218 enrolled graduates. Ranked by graduates per class year enrolling at University of Denver, from each school's own published list: the number that school printed, divided by the class years its list covers. The published total and the school's own years label are shown beside every school, so a one-year list and a five-year list can sit on the same page. A list whose class years we cannot read is not divided by a guess — it is listed below with its total instead.
and 73 more
Published, but not ranked — these schools name University of Denver on a list of where their graduates enrolled whose class years we cannot read ("Since 2023", or no class year printed), so their totals are shown rather than divided: The Lovett School (2, List as of 5/1/2026 (no class year printed on the list itself; page 2 header reads "College Acceptance and Matriculation" and links this file as the "Class of 2026 matriculation list")).
Admitted — from the schools' acceptance lists
13 high schools publish a numbered list of college acceptances — where their graduates were admitted, not where they enrolled — and name University of Denver on it. Between them they printed 51 admissions. Ranked by admissions per class year to University of Denver, from each school's own published acceptances list: the number that school printed, divided by the class years its list covers. Admits are counted at each college a student was admitted to, the same way the UC Reach Score counts a student admitted to three UC campuses three times — so this is a count of admissions, not of students. The published total and the school's own years label are shown beside every school, and a list whose class years we cannot read is listed below with its total rather than divided by a guess.
and 3 more
All 96 feeder schools, ranked →
Counted from each school's own published document, linked on that school's page. A high school that is not here does not publish a numbered list we could read — that is all absence means, and it says nothing about its graduates. Where a school publishes both, the two lists are shown separately: an acceptances list is not a list of enrollments, and the two are never added together.
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At a glance
JSON · Using this page with an AI assistantUniversity of Denver is a private nonprofit four-year college in CO. It admitted 71% of applicants (19,214 applied, 2023). Test policy: Test-optional.
Middle 50% of enrolled first-years who submitted that test: SAT 1240–1410, ACT 29–32. 27% of enrolled first-years submitted an SAT score, 16% an ACT — these ranges describe students who submitted, not the whole class.
Cost: about $36,131 a year on average with aid, $78,476 a year at full price.
Median earnings ten years after entry: $71,155 a year. Payoff, meaning ten years of that pay minus four years of cost: $567,026 ahead with aid, $397,646 ahead at full price.
Highest median earnings four years after the degree, by program: Computer Science ($121,993); Management Sciences and Quantitative Methods ($104,087); Finance and Financial Management Services ($99,135).
Economic mobility (Opportunity Insights): 3% of students came from families in the bottom fifth of income, and 47% of those reached the top fifth as adults.
High schools that publish a numbered matriculation list and name University of Denver: 84, 218 enrolled students between them — ranked by graduates per class year, most often St. Paul Academy and Summit School (6.0 per class year, 6 over 1 class year, Class of 2025); Berkshire School (4.0 per class year, 4 over 1 class year, Class of 2021); Albuquerque Academy (3.8 per class year, 15 over 4 class years, Classes of 2021-2024). Each figure is the number that school printed divided by the class years its own list covers; the totals and years are shown. These are the schools that publish such a list, not every school that sends students; full list: https://highschoolreach.com/leaderboards/feeder-schools/university-of-denver.
High schools that publish a numbered list of college acceptances naming University of Denver: 13, 51 admissions between them — ranked by admissions per class year, most often St Andrews School Of Boca Raton Inc (7.0 per class year, 7 over 1 class year, Class of 2026); Archbishop Mitty High School (5.0 per class year, 5 over 1 class year, Class of 2025); National Cathedral School (2.3 per class year, 7 over 3 class years, 2023-2025). Admits are counted at each college, so this counts admissions, not students. These are a different set of documents from the matriculation lists above and the two are never added together; full list: https://highschoolreach.com/leaderboards/feeder-schools/university-of-denver.
Machine-readable version of this page: https://highschoolreach.com/colleges/university-of-denver.json